A Dundee dentist has been suspended for the second time in his career, after a string of “serious” failings in the care of as many as 10 patients.
Ronald Tod Findlay, who worked at the Princes Street Dental Centre, was investigated after he had £5,033.59 recovered from him in March 2010 when he was caught “misclaiming” items for patient treatments.
As a result, the General Dental Council decided to form an inquiry into 10 of his patient records in which a number of failings were identified.
These included allegations of causing damage to the dentition of patients, failing to diagnose the decay and crumbling of teeth and submitting inappropriate claims for treatment.
Mr Findlay, of South Kingennie Steadings, near Broughty Ferry, created legal history in October 2004 after he admitted supplying 22 patients with non-precious materials for fillings while charging them for gold. It was the first time in Scotland that a dentist had been prosecuted on such a charge. He was suspended from the profession for three months the following year.
He has now been suspended for a year in relation to the failings found in the latest investigation.
The decision notice stated: “The committee finds that Mr Findlay’s failings were of a serious nature and were repeated in as many as 10 individual patient cases over a considerable number of consecutive years.”
The committee identified recurring failures in numerous aspects of his practice, including shortcomings in basic areas of dentistry.
According to the findings, he had not worked as a dentist since December 2014 and has no intention of doing so again.
Mr Findlay said he knew the hearing was this week, but had not yet been made aware of the suspension.
He said: “You know more than I do, no one has contacted me yet. I don’t want to make any comment.”